For the seventh consecutive year St. Hope Public School 7 (PS7) showed gains on the CST, both overall and relative to their peers. PS7 students were the highest performing students in the Sacramento City Unified School District on ten of seventeen CSTs and they were the second, third or fourth highest performing on three additional exams. This means that PS7 students had the highest percent of their grade level proficient or advanced in a particular subject when compared to all district schools on 59% of the 2-8 grade CSTs administered. Furthermore, when compared with students across the state, PS7 students are scoring 23 percentage points higher in ELA and 36 points higher in math.

In addition to strong results on the CSTs, PS7 also remained steady with an API of 911. This leaves PS7 with the fourth highest API in the school district for the second year in a row. In regards to AYP PS7 met 13 out of 13 criteria and students continue to perform well above minimum targets set under the No Child Left Behind criteria. Further analysis reflects that PS7 students continue to out-perform their peers across the state when compared to similar groups of students.

PS7 students continue to prove that when provided a high quality, college-prep education, all students can rise to the challenge and the achievement gap can be closed. In addition, PS7 is proving that students from traditionally underserved backgrounds can perform as well as or better than their more affluent peers given proper support, more time and the high expectations that all students will leave prepared to succeed in college. "We set an ambitious goal at St. HOPE Public Schools to eventually see 100% of our students graduate from four-year university. These results are undeniable proof that, while we still have work to do, we are on a trajectory to achieve that goal," says Jim Scheible, the recently named superintendent of St. HOPE.

St. HOPE's results mark a contrast to the overall trend among California schools as the state works to close the achievement gap. Despite state reforms over the past decades, the gap between minority students and white students across California has narrowed slightly. PS7 has shown just the opposite and over the course of the last eight years has not just closed the achievement gap, but reversed it. PS7, with a student population that is well over 90% African American and Latino, and has over 70% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, has shown a 273 point increase in its API since opening in the 2003-04 school year, compared to an average API increase in California of 86 points in that same period. Based on last year's results PS7 earned a 10/10 ranking by the state, the highest possible score. A preliminary review of this year's results suggests that this ranking will be maintained.

Other recent results for PS7:

Title 1 Academic Achievement Award for school years 08-09 and 09-10

California Distinguished School based on results for the 08-09 school year

Only school in Sacramento County nominated for a Blue Ribbon Award in 2010

Ranked a 10/10 school by the state for 09-10 results

Ranked the 8th highest performing charter school in California by the USC School Performance Dashboard released in the Spring of 2011

St. HOPE (SHPS) Public Schools is a public charter school system that focuses on students from low-income and minority backgrounds, providing them with a high-quality, rigorous college preparatory education. PS7 (grades K-8) and Sacramento Charter High School (grades 9-12) provide personalized attention to their students, committing more time with an extended school day to achieve academic results. SHPS also operates Triumph Center for Early Childhood Education, a public preschool providing unique early childhood education to approximately 65 children. The three schools serve approximately 1,500 students.